1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for displaying characters on a screen and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a method and apparatus for outputting OSD (on-screen display) characters on a TV screen in an electronic appliance such as a DVD player.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital electronic appliances such as DVD players need fonts data to provide OSD (on-screen display) menus or additional services such as an electronic dictionary. The fonts data are commonly stored in a non-volatile memory included in the electronic appliances.
When it is requested to display some characters on a TV screen, the font data corresponding to the characters are read from the non-volatile memory and converted into video signals, whereby the characters are displayed on the screen.
A user may execute a desired function by selecting an item from the displayed OSD menu screen or requests a dictionary meaning of a word by selecting a character string displayed on the OSD screen.
To implement a function of an electronic dictionary as well as a simple OSD menu in an electronic appliance, fonts data for the characters to be displayed should be prepared. Fonts data are usually stored in a non-volatile memory device of a large size, which increases the manufacturing cost.